Homeopathy (2013) 102, 262e267 2013 The Faculty of Homeopathy http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.homp.2013.07.003, available online at http://www.sciencedirect.

com

ORIGINAL PAPER

Dielectric dispersion studies of some potentised homeopathic medicines reveal structured vehicle
CR Mahata*
EE Deptt., BESU, Shibpur, Howrah 711103, India Background: Avogadros Number gives 12c as the limit beyond which no original substance can be present in a highly diluted and succcussed (potentised) homeopathic medicine, implying that chemically such dilutions consist of nothing but the vehicle. But there is evidence that living systems react to homeopathic medicines diluted even above 12c. To explain how such medicines differ from another I hypothesise that altered structure may cause the difference, such as that between diamond and amorphous carbon. Some scientists have argued that dilution followed by succussion may lead to altered structural arrangement of water molecules. This concept may be termed Induced Molecular Structure. Methods: Dielectric dispersion studies were conducted in a broad range with potencies below and above the Avogadro limit by taking 6c and 30c potencies of Graphites and Cuprum Metallicum in liquid form. Measurements were made with an Anomalous Dielectric Dispersion Detector (A3D), an instrument developed by the author. Results: Experiments were carried out in a frequency range of 100 kHz to 50 MHz. Shifting of resonance frequencies as a function of medicine and potency, with potencies below and above the Avogadro limit, was observed. Conclusion: The range of resonance frequencies suggest that the phenomenon might originate from oscillation of dipoles caused by electric eld in variously structured and polarised water. Also, there is reasonable evidence that frequencies change with materials and potency. Homeopathy (2013) 102, 262e267.

Keywords: Induced Molecular Structure; Dielectric dispersion; Resonance

Introduction
This paper explores the hypothesis of Induced Molecular Structure which may be stated as: The medicinal effect of a highly diluted homeopathic medicine owes its origin not to chemical presence of the original substance with which dilution starts but to structural coding of the atoms and molecules of the vehicle and creating specic type of macromolecules peculiar to the original substance as well as the degree of dilution [1]. The idea of structural change of vehicle in potentised substances has the theoretical support in the work of G. O. Barnard in his water poly-

mer model [2], of G.S. Anagnostatos in his Clathrate model [3], of C.R. Mahata in his induced and coded molecular concept [1,4,5] and of Rustum Roys water structure [6]. Similar concepts have been proposed as water memory by J. Benveniste [7] and as Vehicle storing information by Louis Rey [8]. The focus of the current paper is on experimental work using dielectric dispersion.

Materials and method

Materials Materials used for the study were Graphites 6c, 30c and Cuprum metallicum 6c, 30c. Potencies were below as well as above the Avogadro limit. The validity of the concept was not arbitrarily ruled out even for low potencies. Medicines in liquid form in ethanol were procured from M/S Hahnemann Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata a reputable

*Correspondence: CR Mahata, EE Deptt., BESU, Shibpur, Howrah 711103, India. E-mail: crmahata@yahoo.com, crmahata@rediffmail.com Received 4 October 2012; revised 12 July 2013; accepted 19 July 2013

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manufacturer of homeopathic medicines in India. They were prepared specially for these tests on request. Distilled water (CVS Pharmacy, USA) was used as the vehicle for these tests.
Method A differential method was used to observe indirect structural change, namely, change of real part (0 ) and imaginary part (00 ) of dielectric function of water. A capacitor type sensor cell (for un-medicated and then medicated distilled water as its dielectric) and another reference capacitor were used for this purpose as described below. An instrument developed by the author (Anomalous Dielectric Dispersion Detector (A3D)) made use of the sensor cell and the reference to give two outputs representing 0 and 00 as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2. The quadrature excitations Asinut and Acosut were derived from Agilent make Evaluation Board, serving as Signal Generator, with Quadrature Direct Digital Synthesiser (DDS) IC Chip AD 9854. Graphical plots of 0 and 00 were obtained from a Data Acquisition Unit DI-149 made by M/s Dataq Instrument. Both of them were driven by appropriate software supplied by the manufacturers. A physical sketch of the experimental arrangement is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 1 Sensing arrangement: C2 in parallel with r2 represents the Sensor Cell as an imperfect capacitor, C3 is the reference and C1 is an air capacitor.

product of electronic charge and its displacement. Total dipole moment of the chain consisting of N atoms is, " # N N X X q2 1 ! !  $ P u qd En $ m u2 u2 jgu n1 n1 p Here, En = electric eld on the nth atom. Now, the total dipole moment is related to dielectric function as (u) E = 0E + P(u), where, (u) is the complex dielectric func0 00 tion of the medium, [(u)= (u) + j (u)] and 0 is dielectric constant of vacuum. Finally we get,
q gu p 00 0 u 0 q m $u2 u2 2 g2 u2 and u m $u2 u2 2 g2 u2
p p 2

u2 u2

Basic theoryof dielectric dispersion

This research used an experimental technique based on dielectric dispersion. The basic theory of dielectric dispersion is given here to clarify what is anomalous and how it occurs. In dielectric dispersion one studies the dependence of permittivity of a dielectric material as a function of frequency of applied electric eld. Dielectric dispersion in its simplest form can be explained by taking a nite linear chain of identical lattice atoms as shown in Figure 4. As per the Lorentz model, the atoms (each of mass m and charge q) are considered to be connected by (conceptual) springs. When subjected to alternating electric eld alternating dipoles are produced and the atoms are forced to oscillate. The motion of charge q is affected by friction in the guise of a damping force. The equation of motion becomes,
d2 d dd q E g u2 pd dt 2 dt m (1)

where d is the displacement of an oscillator charge, g is the damping coefcient, uP is the natural frequency for chain of atoms and E is the alternating electric eld incident on the material. The solution of the above equation becomes, ! E ! q  d $ m u2 u2 jgu
p

as the real and imaginary parts of the complex dielectric function respectively. For natural frequencies of vibration the length of chain, L is integral multiples of the half-wavelength, l/2. The wavelength, l and frequency, f0 (= uP/2p) are related by 0 lf0 = c = velocity of sound in the media [9]. When the electric 0eld is time harmonic with frequency u, then the plots 00 of and (plotted along y-axis) as functions of frequency (plotted along x-axis) become as given in Figure 5. It indicates sharp change of dielectric function of ordered molecular group around the resonance frequency. Normal Dispersion is related to an increase of the real part of dielectric function with frequency whereas in Anomalous Dispersion it is the opposite. Also, since Normal Dispersion is dominant at most frequencies, except at the neighbourhood of a resonance point, the imaginary part is appreciable only when Anomalous Dispersion occurs. The key to this analysis is that around each resonance frequency there will be abrupt change of the dielectric function, which is electrically detectable. Ordered molecular groups will be identiable through the frequencies so detected. Focussing attention on these frequencies (and not on the actual value of the dielectric constant or its derivative with respect to frequency) medicines will become identiable through their characteristic frequencies.

(2)

The displacement of positive charge associated with nucleus will be small. So, the dipole moment is given by the

Figure 2 Signal processor and Data Acquisition Unit.

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Figure 3 A physical sketch of the experimental arrangement.

Anomalous Dielectric Dispersion Detector (A3D)

(a) Sensor Cell and Reference of A3D: The electrodes of the capacitor type Sensor Cell comprised of two conducting copper foils deposited on glass epoxy sheet. They were separated by a non-conducting glass epoxy spacer outside the area covered by copper foils. The gap between the electrodes was 1.5 mm. The active area immersed in water was 11.8 cm2 and nonimmersed area was 4.2 cm2. A thin polythene pouch was placed in the gap between the electrodes. This prevents electrode polarisation effect and holds the material to be tested. This was the active cell. The reference comprised of a ceramic capacitor. The Sensor cell and Reference were arranged as shown in Figure 1.
Output of the sensing arrangement; V2 fC2 C3 =C1 g fj=uC1 r2 g Acosut

resenting power loss through the graphical plot of V4. An example of theoretically expected plot is given in Figure 5.

Experimentalprocedure
A thin polythene pouch placed in the trough between the electrodes was slowly lled with distilled water while its capacitance was continuously monitored. Water inlet was stopped when the cell capacitance equalised to that of the Reference. The required volume of water in the present set up was 4.2 ml. A frequency domain signature of the water was taken from 100 kHz to 50 MHz. This water was then poured out into a clean cup. Then 0.8 ml of distilled water and 5 drops of the medicine to be tested were added to it. Thus this medicated water contained 3.38%. of original medicine supplied by the manufacturer. In fact, this was the concentration of ethanol. From this, 4.2 ml was put back into the pouch and its frequency domain signature was recorded. Recording for each sample was done on four consecutive days. The idea was to allow formation of rich structures through Brownian motion of the liquid molecules. Richest structures were formed on the third day for the medicines studied here. Agitation was avoided so that the potency remained unchanged. Frequency response of the control H2O shows that loaded into the sensor cell its resonance frequency remained unchanged for three consecutive days (Table 1).

(b) Signal Processor of A3D: V2 along with Acosut and Asinut from a Quadrature DDS is fed to a Signal Processor which gives two outputs: V3 corresponding to 0 and V4 corresponding to 00 as shown in Figure 2. Herein V2 is multiplied by Acosut to extract 0 (a measure of permittivity) to get V3 and is multiplied by Asinut to extract 00 (a measure of dielectric loss) to get V4. Output of lower channel gives V3 proportional to (C2 C3)/C1. This output will detect change of permittivity of C2. Output of upper channel gives V4 proportional to 1/(uC1r2). This output will detect loss in the sample. The Data Acquisition Unit gives graphical plots of V3 and V4 when a frequency sweep is applied by the DDS. These two plots taken together give a complete characterisation of the sample plus additional condence that anomalous dielectric dispersion occurs around resonance. This experimental arrangement utilises the fact that each molecular structure has a characteristic or resonance frequency/frequencies in an alternating electric eld. Around these frequencies there will be anomalous dielectric dispersion, detectable by abrupt change in 0 of capacitor C2 through the graphical plot of V3 and sharp increase in 00 rep-

Results
Frequency domain signatures were recorded for Distilled water, Graphites 6c, 30c and Cuprum met 6c, 30c. Some illustrative signatures in the neighbourhood of resonance frequencies are shown in Figures 6e10. Recording was done at least after 10 stable, repeated observations. For all these graphs starting frequency is 100 kHz, stop frequency is 50 MHz, frequency step is 250 Hz, horizontal scale is 1.693 MHz/div and vertical scale is 77 mV/div; upper trace represents loss and lower one, permittivity. All of

Figure 4 Linear chain of identical atoms.

Figure 5 Plot of 0 and 00 (along y-axis) as a function of frequency (along x-axis).

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Table 1 Material Resonance frequencies of different materials Resonance frequency in MHz 1st day Control H2O H2O H2O + CuMet-6c H2O H2O + CuMet-30c H2O H2O + Graphites-6c H2O H2O + Graphites-30c 26.0029 25.6643 25.1564 25.6643 25.6643 25.495 23.9713 25.495 24.4792 2nd day 26.0029 Before adding CuMet-6c 23.802 Before adding CuMet-30c 24.4792 Before adding Graphites-6c 23.54805 Before adding Graphites-30c 24.3099 3rd day 26.0029 23.6327 24.4792 23.71735 24.1406 4th day 26.3415 23.6327 24.4792 23.71735 24.1406

them have general appearance as Figure 5 showing anomalous dielectric dispersion but resonating at different frequencies. The resonance peaks were carefully read from the frequency domain signatures and entered in Table 1. It is also noticed that the capacitance of Sensor Cell undergoes a signicant change after a test scan. A Sensor Cell had a capacitance of 670 pF with 4.2 ml of distilled water but after a scan with Graphites 6c it increased to 860 pF (28% increase). Another cell used for testing Graphites 30c had its capacitance increased from 670 pF to 810 pF (21%).

Discussion and conclusion

The resonance frequency of a macromolecule depends on its size and shape. The different diluted materials shown in Table 1 have different resonance frequencies. It is suggestive of change of structure with change of homeopathic medicines. A simplied rule relating resonance frequency and length of structure (equal to half of the wavelength) is: (frequency) (wavelength) = (velocity of sound in the medium). Hence, largest structures correspond to minimum value of frequency (bold face in Table 1). This Table further shows that the structures take about 24e48 hours to form, while the resonance frequency of un-medicated water remains unaltered at least for 3 days. Taking the speed of sound in water as 1500 m/sec and fundamental resonance frequency as 25 MHz (approx) we can calculate the dimension of the resonating structures as approximately 30 microns.

Figure 7 Sample frequency domain signature of Graphites 6c.

Change of resonance frequency and change of capacitance support each other. Lower resonance frequency implies larger molecular size. This is due to greater polarization and manifests in higher capacitance of the cell. The resonant frequency of un-medicated water is always greater than that of medicated water, suggesting that water molecules which have been subject to homeopathic dilution and succussion are more organised than un-medicated ones. Change of position of cell or careful re-loading of cell with same amount of same liquid does not affect resonance frequency, demonstrating that the earths geomagnetic eld

Figure 6 Sample frequency domain signature of distilled water.

Figure 8 Sample frequency domain signature of Graphites 30c.

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Figure 9 Sample frequency domain signature of Cuprum Met 6c.

has no effect on the resonance frequency in this experimental arrangement. Chemistry is not the point here: H2O molecules arranged in different structural conguration and of different size are sufcient to give different resonance frequencies. This is evident from the Basic Theory of Dielectric Dispersion (see above). Essentially it appears that the process involves electric dipole oscillation. Magnetic shielding has no effect, but electrostatic shielding does and it is provided in this instrument. The changes of medicine-specic frequency follow addition of medicines. They are clearly not due to geomagnetic effects. Even so, results are not claimed to be standardised. A close look at Table 1 reveals that the resonance frequency of distilled water is not xed. The resonance frequency of water used for Cuprum met 6c and 30c has one value, while the resonance frequency of water used for Graphites 6c and 30c has another value, although all were taken from the same bottle. On this point my present thinking is like this: I observed that resonance frequency changes with cell capacitance. So, I tried to keep the initial capacitance same in all cases. But, the capacitance measuring device was not a very precise one. That might have resulted in a capacitance setting (by adjustment of electrode gap) slightly different than what was exactly required. For this reason the resonance frequencies of water used for Cuprum met and Graphites might have differed slightly. More study is needed before adopting a vehicle for standardization. However, the shift of resonance frequency is clearly

different for different medicines and or potencies. These shifts are in all likelihood not due to ethanol or impurity in water; the same ethanol was used for all these medicines and same amount of water failed to produce the shift. There are differences even for plain water as seen in Table 1. Hydrogen bonds in water are quite weak. As such, they can be quite easily inuenced. Water is a exible vehicle as evidenced by wide variation of its dielectric constant. Unless the quality of water and the experimental environment are rigidly controlled statistical data will not be meaningful. We plan further work with statistical analysis. However, it is clear that frequency changes with change of medicine added to water. Most likely this is due to changes in dimensions of water structures. Dielectric dispersion is a useful tool for studying changes in water structure, although many questions remain unanswered. Considering the four samples, minimum frequency shift is 1.1851 MHz, which is quite signicant. The range of resonance frequencies suggests that the phenomenon might have originated from oscillation of dipoles caused by electric eld in variously structured water. Molecular or atomic polarisation gives much higher resonance frequency, in the infra red region. Hence, the phenomenon observed is not due to the presence of molecules of copper or graphite. These experimental results seem to suggest that potentised homeopathic medicines may be chemically just vehicle but structurally they differ from one another. This may be the clue to their medicinal value. The model of Induced Molecular Structure predicts medicines will have water molecule clusters of varying shape and size. Consequently, they will have different resonance frequencies following the relation between frequency, length of structure and velocity of propagation of acoustic wave in the medium. Change of resonance frequency suggests change of dimension of water structure and thereby seems to support the proposed model/hypothesis. This is one step forward towards establishing the medicinal value even in high dilution of homeopathic medicines.

Acknowledgement
Experimental facilities for this work were provided by M/S One Media Center, Plainsboro, New Jersey, USA. Medicines and chemicals were supplied free of cost by M/s Hahnemann Publishing Co., Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

References
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Figure 10 Sample frequency domain signature of Cuprum Met 30c.

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5 Maity T, Ghosh D, Mahata CR. Effect of dielectric dispersion on potentised homoeo-medicines. Homeopathy 2010; 99: 99e103. 6 Roy R, Tiller WA, Bell Iris, Hoover MR. The structure of liquid water; novel insights from materials research; potential relevance to homeopathy. Material Res Innov Online 2005; 9: 577e608. 7 Davenas E, Beauvais F, Amara J, Oberbaum M, Robinzon B, Miadonna A, Tedeschit A, Pomeranz B, Fortner P, Belon P, Sainte-Laudy J, Poitevin J, Benveniste J. Human basophil degranulation triggered by very dilute antiserum against IgE. Nature 1988; 333/6176: 816e818. 8 Rey L. Thermo-luminescence of ultra-high dilutions of lithium chloride and sodium chloride. Physica A 2003; 323: 67e74. 9 Kireev PS. Semiconductor physics (book). Moscow: MIR Publishers, 1974, p.409.

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